Mrs. Husack's TARGET Class

1st Grade - Around the World

On Thursday in TARGET, 1st graders traveled to Ireland to learn about the traditions, customs, and culture, of the Irish and also have some St. Patrick's Day fun! Students used their knowledge of Vietnam from our last trip to compare and contrast with what they learned about Ireland. They worked with a partner to complete a Venn diagram to compare countries by location and terrain, culture, language, economy, and climate. Students were taught a creative thinking technique called SCAMPER that we utilize frequently in gifted education. Today's SCAMPER was on Lucky Charms. This was definitely a fun (and tasty) activity!

2nd Grade - Cubism

2nd graders worked really hard this week as we integrated art into our unit with some work on tiling and mosaics! This was a difficult task and required a lot of visual and perceptual stamina and reasoning, but students persevered and I'm so proud of them and the masterpiece mosaics they created! We read and discovered more about Pablo Picasso's life in our unit novel: Who Was Pablo Picasso? by True Kelley. This week, we focused on the obstacles and successes he encountered on his journey as an emerging artist travelling between Spain and France.

3rd Grade - Mini-Society

This week was Market Research Day in our Mini-Society Unit. The citizens of Logictopia joined with Teasley's Kidville (Mrs. Herbel's class) to put their prototypes on display and conduct research before beginning production. Students asked whether consumers would buy the product, how much they were willing to pay for it, if they had any suggestions for product improvement, and ideas for optional related products and accessories. This experience was invaluable! Upon discussion following Market Research Day, we talked about competitors in the market and also how to respond to negative reviews. I feel confident that students are prepared with valuable feedback and ideas for improvement as we begin production next week! Any supplies that students have at home should be brought to TARGET next week. There will be supplies for sale (using Smartcash that students have earned) in our Logictopia Supply Store next week too.

4th Grade - National Parks

Although Wednesday was a short day with Early Release, we managed to get through all the National Park presentations! I was very pleased with the time students put into their research as well as the quality and variety of products to "show what they know" about his and her National Parks! We had everything from puppet shows to jigsaw puzzles, board games and interactive posters to PowerPoints, Reader's Theater, and photo booths! Very impressive, 4th graders! I also introduced our next big project - Create Your Own National Park. Students should have brought home the information on a bright green piece of paper but the important dates are listed below.

Begin CYO NP packet - 3.21.18

Bring in tri-fold poster board - 3.28.18

National Park Fair - 5.16.18

5th Grade - Shakespeare

Friday in TARGET, 5th graders participated in station rotations reading through a variety of information and completing graphic organizers focusing on the theatre, the works, and the world of William Shakespeare. This important information was very helpful to give show students the contextual significance of England under the rule of Elizabeth, during the Bubonic Plague, and then under King James' rule. Students were shocked (and slightly appalled) at the entertainment at the time of Shakespeare: bear baiting, fencing, and public executions. Plays, dances, and feasts were a ]highlight of their entertainment scene as well. Next, we decided to use English creatively as Shakespeare would've done so after a review of the parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives), students wrote their own Shakespeare Mad Libs. These were hilarious! According to students' writing, Shakespeare had a budding career at Starbucks and then retired to flipping burgers in China. The humor of 5th graders is always appreciated! :-) Another favorite activity today was Lingo BINGO! Students were to study the modern translation of many Shakespearean vocabulary words and deciphered BINGO clues accordingly.